(Note from the author: These are not my characters, my world, or my situations. They all belong to J. K. Rowling, and are protected by copyrights.)
The summer died away slowly, and fall quickly came. The leaves fell onto the ground. Remus watched them from his cottage window during one of his transformations, counting down the hours until he would have full control over his mind again. Sirius, James, or Peter usually accompanined him at his home during these horrific nights. They were still more than happy to keep watch over their dear friend. So they took monthly shifts. The first shift had gone to Sirius, and then Peter, and then James. Lily had protested that she should come along as well, but James told her that she would do more harm than good, and because of this, she stayed.
Soon the leaves outside of the Lupin cottage were browning on the ground and being grounded into the dirt and earth. The first snowflake fell a night that Padfoot was accompanying Moony, and they watched the snow fly through the air that entire night from Moony's front room out the paned glass.
There were small instances when they were children again, and one of them was the transformation nights with Remus. Sirius closed his eyes during these nights, pretending that the hard wooden floor of Lupin's home was truly the one of the Shrieking Shack, and that the woods outside was not Sherwood, but the Forbidden Forest.
Sadly, he would always have to open his eyes at one time or another, and he would be reminded yet again that indeed, no, he was an adult. And this was his world now.
There was no going back to school.
God, what would he have given to have one more paper to write for Professor Hall, or one more examination from Professor McGonagall? Or to be able to disappear under James's cloak one last time?
But sadly, he now faced his tiring job at the Ministry, late nights filled with meetings, planning, and second-guessing Voldemort's moves, and monthly breaks with Moony, trying to keep him at bay.
Sometimes he would go out to the park in London, where he had seen Jessica Lindher first, and where Remus and James had seen Voldemort. He half was hoping to see Jessica again. To feel some sort of comfort from her smiling face.
"Ah, Sirius, where have you been?"
"Around," he would say, "How's Joey?"
"Joey is good," Mrs. Lindher would reply, her face alight with happiness, "He made his football team. His father is very proud of him. Going to be a goalie just like him. Have you burned any buildings down yet?"
"No, not yet."
He felt trapped in this schedule of every day. He wasn't supposed to be living like this! He was supposed to be free! Alive!
But then he would see Joey, peeking from behind his mother's waist, and smile up at him. A little boy in a big scary world. And yet he would smile.
At this thought, Sirius also felt himself smile.
"Happy Christmas!"
Sirius looked surprised as a jolly Frank, holding a glass of champange in his hands opened the door to Moody's home. Frank hadn't smiled like that for such a long time. Alice was right behind him, trying to advance on her husband with mistletoe.
"Join the celebration!" Frank said, letting him in. Sirius was carrying a present in a large wrapped box. He handed it off to Diggle, who was standing quietly inside the entrance hall. Upon entering the house, the blaring Christmas music resounded through Sirius's ears, and he looked around.
Every Order member was laughing, holding a wine glass, in the entrance hall and dining room, wearing their best. It was the last Christmas party of the decade, and they had decided to celebrate to lighten the mood. Marlene and Kingsley were kissing quietly from underneath the mistletoe, Marlene turning a bright shade of red and Kingsley laughing halfway through the kiss. Dorcas was melancholy, standing in the corner of the room, telling a horror story to Edgar Bones about the horrendous things that Death Eaters did to spies that were caught.
"I've seen it with my own two eyes," she said in her monotone voice as Edgar took a sip of his wine. His hand was shaking.
"Hey, Padfoot!"
Sirius turned to come face to face with Remus, who was holding his own glass of wine, "How are you?" he asked as he slapped him on the back, "Happy Christmas!"
"Yeah, Happy Christmas," Sirius said, forcing a smile. What was wrong with Remus? Why was he acting so . . . giddy?
"What?" Remus asked, taking a drink of his wine, "Why are you looking at me like that?"
"What happened?" Sirius asked, "Don't tell me Lily's pregnant."
Remus laughed, and shook his head, "No, of course not. God, wouldn't that be hell."
Sirius forced a laugh, and nodded, "So what's with the wine and grin?"
"Lily's not pregnant," Remus said, grabbing Sirius and pulling him aside, "But someone else is. Now I'm not supposed to be telling you this, since they want to make the announcement themselves, but Alice found out yesterday. Her and Frank are going to have a baby."
Sirius looked at him, wide eyed, trying to force the mental image of how this would have come about, and shook his head, "What? Alice?"
"Well, Padfoot, she is a girl," Remus laughed, and Sirius looked over quickly to where the bubbly Alice Longbottom was kissing Frank passionately. She didn't look pregnant. How in God's name could that have happened?
"Where's everyone else?" he asked, turning back, "I want to get out of here as soon as I can. I hate this place," he added, rubbing his arms. Remus chortled, and shrugged.
"Peter said he would be coming. Had something to do beforehand, though," he said, "Work seems to be keeping him busy anymore. He works for the Ministry, remember? And you know how they can be."
Sirius laughed, "Yeah, I do."
A streak of red caught his eye a he looked over Remus's shoulder. It was accompanied by an oval face with glasses perched ontop of his nose. James and Lily. They had arrived.
"Oy! Potter! Morgana!" Sirius shouted, and they turned in a fluster. Or at least, Lily did. James's face brightened immediately, and he skidded over to them as Lily nervously followed him. She looked very peaky, and her eyes were darting to every corner of the room. She crossed her arms, and tried to avoid eye contact with any of the boys, including her husband. But they didn't seem to notice, except for Remus.
He gave her an inquiring look, but she just turned away, and pretended to be very interested in a chrysanthemum sitting on a table close to them. James and Sirius embraced, and then James and Remus shook hands. The music was still blaring in their ears.
"Happy Christmas!" Fabian announced as he entered with Gideon through the door. Diggle took their cloaks, and sent them on their way.
Quickly, the entrance hall was filling with the twenty five members of the Order, all singing and dancing and talking as loudly as their wine- ridden voices let them. The three friends quickly joined in the celebration, forgetting all of the hell that they had been through the past year. It was the holidays, and they were children again.
"Hey," Sirius said, eyeing the table filled with snacks, "Anyone feel like a bit of hexing the pastries?"
"We're nineteen, Sirius, not nine," Remus said, pushing James back as he headed for the table with his friend, "It's time you start to act your age."
Sirius gave him a look, and then continued to the pastry table. James tugged away from Remus, and then with a mischevious smile, shrugged.
"This party isn't the same without a little bit of marauding," he said weakly, "Come on, for old time's sake?"
"Do it for Moony, Remus," Sirius said, turning around as he reached for his wand, "Surely you remember him? A little stalky, with long brown hair and fangs?"
Remus sighed, and joined his friends at the table to come face to face with the largest pile of pumpkin pastries that any three of them had seen. The little boys arose inside their hearts, and Sirius felt himself grinning.
"Now, what do you reckon, James?" he said, turning to his friend, "Hot Tongue Hex, or the good old Bombing Buttox?"
"I'd go with Bombing Buttox, Padfoot," Remus offered, and the two boys looked at him in disbelief. Remus smiled, and took out his own wand, "All together now?"
"May I have your attention please?"
A glass sounded from the entrance hall. Sirius looked up from watching the pastry table, as Elphias and Benjy Fenwick embarrasingly waved the stenched air away from them. Both of them had made large noises from their behinds only seconds ago, and Benjy had turned quite red.
He looked now to the spiraling staircase, where Alice and Frank stood, five steps from the bottom, holding their glasses. Moody and Kingsley, who had been speaking in private, turned as well, and Moody's eye swiveled to Alice. His eye seemed to be examining something on the stomach of her dress, and soon his expression grew cold. He glared at Frank.
"We have an important announcement, Alice and I," Frank said, ignoring Moody and taking Alice's shoulders by his hands, "As all of you know, we have been married for a beautiful seven years. And we are very much in love."
"I'm going to have a baby!" Alice squealed, and all of the girls of the Order squealed with joy.
"Oh! Alice!" Marlene shrieked, "Congrats!"
"When is it due?" Emmeline asked joyfully, running forward.
"Sometime in July," Frank answered, "And we all hope that you all will give us your best wishes."
"Of course we do!" Edgar shouted, "Good man, becoming a father."
"Stupid man," Moody growled, and the room went silent. All heads turned to look at the old Auror, who was still glaring at Frank and his wife like they had just committed adultery. He stalked forward, and pointed one of his scarred fingers at Frank.
"You should have understood the danger that you were putting your first born into. This is no time to be having a child. Settle down after the War."
"And when will that be, Mad Eye?" Sirius piped up, and Moody spun around to glare at him.
"What was that, Mr. Black?" he snarled, and Sirius shrugged from his seat next to Remus and James.
"When is the War going to be over?" he asked again, "Never, it seems like."
"No one can be sure," Moody said, "But what we do know is that the War is now, and that Alice, with child, cannot be aloud to be put into any dangerous situation. Not only have we created a deletion from the Order, but we have also created a weak point for the enemy."
"Alastor," Frank laughed nervously, "Alice will continue to . . ."
"No, she will not," Moody snapped, "It is not Alice's decision. She will be relieved from her duties until her child is born. And after your child is born, you will move into Headquarters so you will be safe from anyone wanting to harm you."
"You cannot tell us what to do with our . . ."
"Oh, but I can," Moody snarled, "I can tell you exactly what to do with your lives until this War is over. You also signed that contract, Frank. Your life is the Order's. And so is yours, Alice."
"Alastor, you're overreacting," Alice said, looking like she was going to fight to the death to keep her life the way it was, "Nothing is going to happen."
"You cannot honestly think that both of you will come out of this War unscathed," Moody snarled, coming closer to them, "You cannot honestly be that dunderheaded to believe such a foolish thing," he pointed at Frank, "You may be Frank Longbottom, but you still have responsibilities. You're in the same ship as us. And now you have brought an innocent life into this hell that we have created. You have brought an innocent child into this War. And you must face the consequences."
The room seemed divided at the moment. The older members seemed to side with Moody, and the younger in complete disgust with what Moody was proposing. Lily, who had been sitting in the corner of the dining room all night, seemed to have lost all color in her face. She was looking fearfully from Frank, to Alice, to Moody, and then back to Alice. She clutched her stomach, and her lip trembled. Sirius nudged James, and nodded to her. James looked, and then furrowed his brow.
Slowly the room came back to life, and Alice and Frank were pulled over to Moody to speak to him in private. All of the conversations had turned to what had just happened, except for the three boys that were still eyeing the quiet girl across the room.
"She's been like that for a while now," James said, "But she won't tell me what's wrong. I ask her, and she won't ever answer."
"So go ask her again," Sirius urged him, pushing him in Lily's direction, "I want to know. Get going."
James sheepishly crossed the room, as if he and his wife had never spoken to each other before. He made his way through the crowd, and finally to where Lily sat. Lily jumped, and looked startled. Sirius and Remus quietly watched from their seats as James said something, Lily took his hand, and rested her forehead on it.
James said something else, and Lily pointed to the staircase. Then he helped her up, and they made their way from the dining room to the stairs and then up the spiraling case.
"She is acting sort of odd," Remus commented, looking after the two.
"Yeah," Sirius said, "And we're going to find out what. Come on," he said, and took out his wand, "Time to put that Invisibility Spell to use."
The summer died away slowly, and fall quickly came. The leaves fell onto the ground. Remus watched them from his cottage window during one of his transformations, counting down the hours until he would have full control over his mind again. Sirius, James, or Peter usually accompanined him at his home during these horrific nights. They were still more than happy to keep watch over their dear friend. So they took monthly shifts. The first shift had gone to Sirius, and then Peter, and then James. Lily had protested that she should come along as well, but James told her that she would do more harm than good, and because of this, she stayed.
Soon the leaves outside of the Lupin cottage were browning on the ground and being grounded into the dirt and earth. The first snowflake fell a night that Padfoot was accompanying Moony, and they watched the snow fly through the air that entire night from Moony's front room out the paned glass.
There were small instances when they were children again, and one of them was the transformation nights with Remus. Sirius closed his eyes during these nights, pretending that the hard wooden floor of Lupin's home was truly the one of the Shrieking Shack, and that the woods outside was not Sherwood, but the Forbidden Forest.
Sadly, he would always have to open his eyes at one time or another, and he would be reminded yet again that indeed, no, he was an adult. And this was his world now.
There was no going back to school.
God, what would he have given to have one more paper to write for Professor Hall, or one more examination from Professor McGonagall? Or to be able to disappear under James's cloak one last time?
But sadly, he now faced his tiring job at the Ministry, late nights filled with meetings, planning, and second-guessing Voldemort's moves, and monthly breaks with Moony, trying to keep him at bay.
Sometimes he would go out to the park in London, where he had seen Jessica Lindher first, and where Remus and James had seen Voldemort. He half was hoping to see Jessica again. To feel some sort of comfort from her smiling face.
"Ah, Sirius, where have you been?"
"Around," he would say, "How's Joey?"
"Joey is good," Mrs. Lindher would reply, her face alight with happiness, "He made his football team. His father is very proud of him. Going to be a goalie just like him. Have you burned any buildings down yet?"
"No, not yet."
He felt trapped in this schedule of every day. He wasn't supposed to be living like this! He was supposed to be free! Alive!
But then he would see Joey, peeking from behind his mother's waist, and smile up at him. A little boy in a big scary world. And yet he would smile.
At this thought, Sirius also felt himself smile.
"Happy Christmas!"
Sirius looked surprised as a jolly Frank, holding a glass of champange in his hands opened the door to Moody's home. Frank hadn't smiled like that for such a long time. Alice was right behind him, trying to advance on her husband with mistletoe.
"Join the celebration!" Frank said, letting him in. Sirius was carrying a present in a large wrapped box. He handed it off to Diggle, who was standing quietly inside the entrance hall. Upon entering the house, the blaring Christmas music resounded through Sirius's ears, and he looked around.
Every Order member was laughing, holding a wine glass, in the entrance hall and dining room, wearing their best. It was the last Christmas party of the decade, and they had decided to celebrate to lighten the mood. Marlene and Kingsley were kissing quietly from underneath the mistletoe, Marlene turning a bright shade of red and Kingsley laughing halfway through the kiss. Dorcas was melancholy, standing in the corner of the room, telling a horror story to Edgar Bones about the horrendous things that Death Eaters did to spies that were caught.
"I've seen it with my own two eyes," she said in her monotone voice as Edgar took a sip of his wine. His hand was shaking.
"Hey, Padfoot!"
Sirius turned to come face to face with Remus, who was holding his own glass of wine, "How are you?" he asked as he slapped him on the back, "Happy Christmas!"
"Yeah, Happy Christmas," Sirius said, forcing a smile. What was wrong with Remus? Why was he acting so . . . giddy?
"What?" Remus asked, taking a drink of his wine, "Why are you looking at me like that?"
"What happened?" Sirius asked, "Don't tell me Lily's pregnant."
Remus laughed, and shook his head, "No, of course not. God, wouldn't that be hell."
Sirius forced a laugh, and nodded, "So what's with the wine and grin?"
"Lily's not pregnant," Remus said, grabbing Sirius and pulling him aside, "But someone else is. Now I'm not supposed to be telling you this, since they want to make the announcement themselves, but Alice found out yesterday. Her and Frank are going to have a baby."
Sirius looked at him, wide eyed, trying to force the mental image of how this would have come about, and shook his head, "What? Alice?"
"Well, Padfoot, she is a girl," Remus laughed, and Sirius looked over quickly to where the bubbly Alice Longbottom was kissing Frank passionately. She didn't look pregnant. How in God's name could that have happened?
"Where's everyone else?" he asked, turning back, "I want to get out of here as soon as I can. I hate this place," he added, rubbing his arms. Remus chortled, and shrugged.
"Peter said he would be coming. Had something to do beforehand, though," he said, "Work seems to be keeping him busy anymore. He works for the Ministry, remember? And you know how they can be."
Sirius laughed, "Yeah, I do."
A streak of red caught his eye a he looked over Remus's shoulder. It was accompanied by an oval face with glasses perched ontop of his nose. James and Lily. They had arrived.
"Oy! Potter! Morgana!" Sirius shouted, and they turned in a fluster. Or at least, Lily did. James's face brightened immediately, and he skidded over to them as Lily nervously followed him. She looked very peaky, and her eyes were darting to every corner of the room. She crossed her arms, and tried to avoid eye contact with any of the boys, including her husband. But they didn't seem to notice, except for Remus.
He gave her an inquiring look, but she just turned away, and pretended to be very interested in a chrysanthemum sitting on a table close to them. James and Sirius embraced, and then James and Remus shook hands. The music was still blaring in their ears.
"Happy Christmas!" Fabian announced as he entered with Gideon through the door. Diggle took their cloaks, and sent them on their way.
Quickly, the entrance hall was filling with the twenty five members of the Order, all singing and dancing and talking as loudly as their wine- ridden voices let them. The three friends quickly joined in the celebration, forgetting all of the hell that they had been through the past year. It was the holidays, and they were children again.
"Hey," Sirius said, eyeing the table filled with snacks, "Anyone feel like a bit of hexing the pastries?"
"We're nineteen, Sirius, not nine," Remus said, pushing James back as he headed for the table with his friend, "It's time you start to act your age."
Sirius gave him a look, and then continued to the pastry table. James tugged away from Remus, and then with a mischevious smile, shrugged.
"This party isn't the same without a little bit of marauding," he said weakly, "Come on, for old time's sake?"
"Do it for Moony, Remus," Sirius said, turning around as he reached for his wand, "Surely you remember him? A little stalky, with long brown hair and fangs?"
Remus sighed, and joined his friends at the table to come face to face with the largest pile of pumpkin pastries that any three of them had seen. The little boys arose inside their hearts, and Sirius felt himself grinning.
"Now, what do you reckon, James?" he said, turning to his friend, "Hot Tongue Hex, or the good old Bombing Buttox?"
"I'd go with Bombing Buttox, Padfoot," Remus offered, and the two boys looked at him in disbelief. Remus smiled, and took out his own wand, "All together now?"
"May I have your attention please?"
A glass sounded from the entrance hall. Sirius looked up from watching the pastry table, as Elphias and Benjy Fenwick embarrasingly waved the stenched air away from them. Both of them had made large noises from their behinds only seconds ago, and Benjy had turned quite red.
He looked now to the spiraling staircase, where Alice and Frank stood, five steps from the bottom, holding their glasses. Moody and Kingsley, who had been speaking in private, turned as well, and Moody's eye swiveled to Alice. His eye seemed to be examining something on the stomach of her dress, and soon his expression grew cold. He glared at Frank.
"We have an important announcement, Alice and I," Frank said, ignoring Moody and taking Alice's shoulders by his hands, "As all of you know, we have been married for a beautiful seven years. And we are very much in love."
"I'm going to have a baby!" Alice squealed, and all of the girls of the Order squealed with joy.
"Oh! Alice!" Marlene shrieked, "Congrats!"
"When is it due?" Emmeline asked joyfully, running forward.
"Sometime in July," Frank answered, "And we all hope that you all will give us your best wishes."
"Of course we do!" Edgar shouted, "Good man, becoming a father."
"Stupid man," Moody growled, and the room went silent. All heads turned to look at the old Auror, who was still glaring at Frank and his wife like they had just committed adultery. He stalked forward, and pointed one of his scarred fingers at Frank.
"You should have understood the danger that you were putting your first born into. This is no time to be having a child. Settle down after the War."
"And when will that be, Mad Eye?" Sirius piped up, and Moody spun around to glare at him.
"What was that, Mr. Black?" he snarled, and Sirius shrugged from his seat next to Remus and James.
"When is the War going to be over?" he asked again, "Never, it seems like."
"No one can be sure," Moody said, "But what we do know is that the War is now, and that Alice, with child, cannot be aloud to be put into any dangerous situation. Not only have we created a deletion from the Order, but we have also created a weak point for the enemy."
"Alastor," Frank laughed nervously, "Alice will continue to . . ."
"No, she will not," Moody snapped, "It is not Alice's decision. She will be relieved from her duties until her child is born. And after your child is born, you will move into Headquarters so you will be safe from anyone wanting to harm you."
"You cannot tell us what to do with our . . ."
"Oh, but I can," Moody snarled, "I can tell you exactly what to do with your lives until this War is over. You also signed that contract, Frank. Your life is the Order's. And so is yours, Alice."
"Alastor, you're overreacting," Alice said, looking like she was going to fight to the death to keep her life the way it was, "Nothing is going to happen."
"You cannot honestly think that both of you will come out of this War unscathed," Moody snarled, coming closer to them, "You cannot honestly be that dunderheaded to believe such a foolish thing," he pointed at Frank, "You may be Frank Longbottom, but you still have responsibilities. You're in the same ship as us. And now you have brought an innocent life into this hell that we have created. You have brought an innocent child into this War. And you must face the consequences."
The room seemed divided at the moment. The older members seemed to side with Moody, and the younger in complete disgust with what Moody was proposing. Lily, who had been sitting in the corner of the dining room all night, seemed to have lost all color in her face. She was looking fearfully from Frank, to Alice, to Moody, and then back to Alice. She clutched her stomach, and her lip trembled. Sirius nudged James, and nodded to her. James looked, and then furrowed his brow.
Slowly the room came back to life, and Alice and Frank were pulled over to Moody to speak to him in private. All of the conversations had turned to what had just happened, except for the three boys that were still eyeing the quiet girl across the room.
"She's been like that for a while now," James said, "But she won't tell me what's wrong. I ask her, and she won't ever answer."
"So go ask her again," Sirius urged him, pushing him in Lily's direction, "I want to know. Get going."
James sheepishly crossed the room, as if he and his wife had never spoken to each other before. He made his way through the crowd, and finally to where Lily sat. Lily jumped, and looked startled. Sirius and Remus quietly watched from their seats as James said something, Lily took his hand, and rested her forehead on it.
James said something else, and Lily pointed to the staircase. Then he helped her up, and they made their way from the dining room to the stairs and then up the spiraling case.
"She is acting sort of odd," Remus commented, looking after the two.
"Yeah," Sirius said, "And we're going to find out what. Come on," he said, and took out his wand, "Time to put that Invisibility Spell to use."